Paris: Day 3

Paris, France

Another great day of sight seeing in Paris. Here is a run down of what we did today. We started in the Latin Quarter seeing Les Arenes de Lutece. It is a 2nd century Roman amphitheater that once accommodated around 10,000 people. It is now used by locals to play football…we were the only ones there but the thought it was really awesome! Next we went to the Jardin des Plantes (the botanical gardens). It covers about 28 hectares so we only walked through a portion of it, but it was so stunning (gotta look at all the pictures). We then headed to the islands. First Ile Saint-Louis where we roamed the streets and looked in the shops and had the ice cream at the famous Berthillon. Then we headed across the bridge to see the famous Notre Dame Cathedral. Wow! The line was long but it moved very fast. In the plaza before you enter is "point zero", the place where all things in Paris are measure from. The cathedral was definitely a highlight of the day, it is so vast and the history of the building is quite intriguing. We also waited in another line for about 45 minutes to climb the over 400 steps to the top of the cathedral. Geno just had to see where Quasi Modo lived! J The gargoyles were a highlight from the top.

After Notre Dam we toured the Crypte Archeologique and then took a walk through the Marche aux Fleurs (flower market) on our way to another highlight, Saint Chapelle. This is a beautiful small cathedral that is basically stained glass windows from floor to ceiling…look at the pictures. I seriously gasped when we came around the corner and saw the windows!

After that we found a bathroom (praise the Lord) and went to a corner café and had some wine and cheese. Our feet needed the break and we were almost to the corner of grouchy and tired J

Next we headed to the Musee d'Orsay where we saw paintings by the greats such as the amazing exhibit dedicated to Vincent van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Rodin, Cezanne, Seurat, Degas and many others. Then I made Geno sit down on the sidewalk and let me rest my feet. Whew!

After we made it home we booked a night tour of Paris and got to see the city in a whole new way. Paris is so beautiful at night…CITY OF LIGHTS!!! And it was so interesting to see how crowded it was at night in the squares and all around the town.

Tomorrow is our last full day and I am sure we will pack in another full day of adventures.